Creepy Unsolved (preferably paranormal) Mysteries.

I shall also mention Gloria Ramirez, whom I discovered on this very wiki.

A fistful of me.

Well, that was a weird read, all right.

Based on the article, though, I wouldn't call this one "unsolved;" but the same is very true of some of the stuff I've linked, so it's not as if I'm innocent of focusing more on the word "creepy" and the implied "interesting" in the thread's title - nor am I implying that this case isn't fitting for this thread. I'm just saying that it's probably solved in a sufficiently satisfactory way by the people who did research it.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

There was a book in my fourth grade teacher's book shelf that dealt with all kinds of supernatural scary shit, but the one I remember the most is one about the Crystal Skull (specifically the Mitchell-Hedges one), and the weird and zany effects it had on people.

You avatar is having more of an effect on me.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

Crystal skulls that have been examined by experts all turn out to be less than 200 years old.

In related news, I will never forgive crystal skulls for ruining Indiana Jones.

A fistful of me.

There's nothing special about chrystal skulls except that they're pretty famous and actually do look kind of neat.

...And that they ruined Indiana Jones. Seriously, what's up with aliens in an Indiana Jones movie? Yeah, I know, "the comics of the time featured them and thus they were appropriate for that universe," but I still don't think that really flies.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

And now talk of the Crystal Skulls remind me of the Hope Diamond and its supposed curse, which could easily be chalked up to bad luck and coincidence.

Still, when I was young, my mother misled me into thinking it was an actual supernatural artifact when she told me that someone had seen fire coming out of it.

A fistful of me.

Speaking of Indiana Jones*

, have you guys heard about that order of monks who are supposedly keeping the Arc of the Covenant?

Crystal Skulls was an okay film...the problem is everybody expects an Indiana Jones film to be GREAT. That is great but I hit the capslock button.

As for the monks, who cares? All the arc of the covenant ever was was a box - the real treasure was the stone plates it housed, and copies of the words on those plates are now, thanks to the Giddeons, in every major motel chain. I'm much more interested in stuff like the Dead Sea Scrolls, because it shows us all that the Bible was meant to be taken as a collection of parables to "help guide rather than decide" how you should live your life, and that fits with my personal philosophy a lot better than this modern notion of "submission before an angry God, obey obey obey".

Well, specifically, the claim is that it emits a magnificent light and the monks who are elected to guard it die young with cataracts in their eyes. I think that relaying claims like this is one of the reasons people look at the History Channel askance.

"Who cares?"

—lip twitches—

Anything else of peculiarity to be found in Africa?

Proud member of the IAA What's the point of being grown up if you can't act childish?

I would hardly call one of the defining trait of most pre-monotheistic religions (note: most, not all) and also most monotheistic religions in their infancy "modern."

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

Well, like every other continent, Africa has its own cryptids, most famously Mokele-mbembe.

I still don't know how to pronounce that name.

A fistful of me.

Africa has Popo Bawa, which is a strong contenter to the title of silliest cryptid of them all. *

edited 18th Nov '11 11:07:53 AM by lordGacek

"Atheism is the religion whose followers are easiest to troll"

Popobawa.

Actually kind of disturbing!

Huh. That actually explains where DC Comics got the name of their character "Bat Wing". I thought the name sounded a bit silly, but it's apparently based on a known legend.

The owner of this account is temporarily unavailable. Please leave your number and call again later.

So, there is a superhero whose concept is based on Popobawa? It's no mystery, but damn is it creepy.

"Atheism is the religion whose followers are easiest to troll"

Unrelated to Africa, but I just found this on an unrelated search: while they eventually came up with an explanation, who wouldn't be intrigued by a mystery plague following a meteorite landing?

As for African cryptids, I have to say I love Trunko, although it sucks that somebody found photographs of the thing and ruined it's uniqueness.

Popobawa is bizarre, and I find it intriguing that one of the suggested explanations is that it is a hoax constructed as part of a political ploy.

edited 18th Nov '11 11:33:22 AM by MadeOfAxes

"One thing, though- apparently the eldest goat is the bastard child of Muhammad Ali and the Hulk." ~ Exelixi, on The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

No, the real title would go to The Monkey Man of New Dehli.

Trunko was not only spotted in Africa. Similar corpses have popped up all over the world. They're generally believed to be dead whales in a specific stage of decomposition. Same thing with the Zuiyo-maru corpse, only that was a basking shark.

Since we're on the cryptozoology subject, I'd like to bring up the Enfield Horror, which from its description, sounds like a damn scary cryptid.

edited 18th Nov '11 11:45:16 AM by RL_Nice

A fistful of me.

Then there are the phantom cats. We even had one around here some time ago.

[edit]

Ah yeah, the Enfield Horror...

How I love America

edited 18th Nov '11 11:59:53 AM by lordGacek

"Atheism is the religion whose followers are easiest to troll"

This is kinda pointless... We ain't gonna solve none. There's a reason those mysteries weren't solved: Deficient data.

Since the data collection was shaky on the first place and they're not under much actual investigation, all we can do is keep speculating over the same shoddy research as our predecessors.

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.

But speculating can be fun.

Since someone posted weird corpses that had washed ashore, how about the Montauk Monster from Montauk, NY.

Not that it's the most creepy or interesting "mystery" to be linked to that place; the "Montauk Project" is a suspected (and of course almost entirely fabricated) US government secret project aiming to do all kinds of freaky shit from mind control experiments to alien autopsies.

Some guys who claim to have seen some of the stuff that supposedly went on in the now abandoned facility that serves as the centre of these stories have linked the experiments to the Philadelphia Experiment, a supposed experiment on either teleportation or a cloaking device on the USS Philadelphia. The tales that are told of those experiments... It's kind of WWII-era sci-fi Lovecraft with the twist that it's much more ridiculous than it is disturbing or scary.

I love urban legends.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

So, anyone ever looked at the Weird US books? I've seen a few at my local Barnes & Nobles, including the New York one (that's my state), but I'm a little too much of a pussy to actually try visiting any of the locations.

That, and I'm lazy.

A fistful of me.

It seems to me that making jokes about Popobawa is in bad taste.

Currently taking a break from the site. See my user page for more information.